Human beings had made this world a beautiful place to live in, from centuries some beautiful monuments

from various parts of world have remained as touristss attraction. They have been preserved as the cultural heritage sites, but les scare was taken about their preservation, and thus many of those monuments are on risk of destruction. For example Da Vinci Mona Lisa has a crack, Taj Mahal is deteriorated because of pollution, Michael Angelos David was getting deteriorated as well. Reason can be different but ultimately the cultural treasure is being affected. So awareness being built up, and various assessments, test are carried out to find the reasons behind this deterioration, and the major contributors of this deterioration were found to be microorganisms. Lets see how these small microorganisms can cause a gradual deterioration of the heavy, rigid stones.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/3868661

The gradual destruction of the substance due to action of biological against is called as biodeterioration. Microorganisms live in colonies, if they get a surface to adhere to, they grow and multiply at faster rates and form a film, which is called as a biofilm. One microorganism is not able to produce a noticeable effect, but when they are present in bio film, together they can produce detrimental effects. Biological communities that grow on the stones, and deteriorate them are called as lithobiontic communities.. They grow and multiply together, excrete exoploymers that make the biofilm firmer. They produce enzymes, that are able to de-mineralize the stone material. Microorganisms are so diverse in nature that they are able to grow anywhere and found almost everywhere. They have a large population which is just impossible to be acted upon. This deterioration also occurs due to biocorrosion caused by organic and inorganic acids produced by living organisms. Many of these microorganisms are important economically , but

the ones which carry out the destruction are surely harmful. Microorganisms that are shown to be the causative agents in deterioration of stone are bacteria, Archaea , cyanobacteria, algae , fungi and lichens ,etc. The increasing awareness about the preservation of heritage sites forced the biological scientist to find out the ways that could be employed to get rid of these microorganisms or prevent them from colonizing on such stone knowledge of microbiology ( the nutrition, growth and reproduction of bacteria) can help in assessing the risk factors associated with these microorganisms, understanding their life cycle, and with the application of newer technologies in biology ( Biotechnology) to get rid of them. Earlier these studies did not include the modern knowledge of Biology. The traditional method was identifying living organisms causing the deterioration by classic phenotypic identification methods. But here in our research paper the author P. Fernandes has mentioned the phenotypic, genotypic and molecular techniques as well.

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Methodology : Various methods that can be applied to prevent the stone deterioration are:

Use of Microorganisms: The microorganisms like some of the bacteria can be used to restore the artwork. The application of of chemosynthetic bacteria like Nitrate or sulphate reducing bacteria, called SRB and NRB, respectively as well as the hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria( HDB) , bio-calcifying bacteria ( BCB) can be carried out. The action of hydrolytic enzymes like lipases, proteases, and

carbohydrases can be helpful in dissolving the biofilms. The Biofilms are composed of the

mineral matricx and SRB and NRB can be used to reduce the sulfate and nitrate in the mineral matrix. There are some deposited hydrocarbons on stone that are dissolved by action of HDB. BCB can be used for stone consolidation. This way microorganism can be used against microorganisms only. This restoration can be simply termed as Bio-remediation ( application of biological agents in the revival). This may be the short lived treatment.

Use of Radiation: The newer technologies of one of the branches of Biotechnology that is Biophysics can be applied here. The UV, gamma rays or X-rays can be used to irradiate the microorganisms as well as other eukaryotic species causing biological degradation. They have short wavelength thus penetrate deeper and kill the organisms responsible for deterioration. These irradiations are generally harmful and have side effects on biological communities, thus the use should be kept minimum.

Application of Biocides: The gaseous-chemical biocides like bactericides, algicides, fungicides, insecticides, made up of ammonium compounds, phenol or urea derivatives, nitrogen-containing compounds , as well as some gaseous biocides can be used to apply on the organisms growing on the sculptures, walls, stony surfaces. Application of these chemicals may have side effects on surrounding population, plants and human beings as well, thus there use has got some limitations.

Fumigation: Fumigation is the technique used to kill bacteria mainly. Toxic gases are used to kill bacteria and some fungi, but they are very toxic if inhaled.

Low pressure water rinsing This can be applied to remove the sticky bigger organisms like fungi, lichen, algae. It does not have any health hazard.

Application of Anaerobic atmosphere: The use of chamber to evacuate the region having biological growth, or removal of oxygen is carried out. This process needs costly equipments which are developed in biological industries like agriculture, waste disposal systems, etc. It needs application of Bio- engineering. Newer chambers that can be cheap and effective are under research. This may then be a good and effective method of removal of unwanted biological growth.

Restoration by Calcite precipitation The Calcite precipitation can be done by addition of organic macro molecules ( rich in aspartic acid). Now a days it can also be done by application of artificially prepared poly- aspartic acid compounds, that induce precipitation of calcite and restoration of the deterioration caused by microorganisms. All above mentioned techniques have their own advantages and disadvantages. Some may happen to take long time to complete the action, whereas some are quite faster techniques. The selection of technique is not only based on the duration it takes , but also the quality of the

action, cost required to accomplish it, and very importantly biological hazards they pose, are the important factors to be considered. The identification of strains by genotypic methods like ( PCR DNA DNA hybridization, genetic analysis ) + phenotypic methods is generally followed by the techniques mentioned above. Obviously the techniques are going to be different for different organisms and thus will be the result. Conclusion: With the increase in awareness of conservation of our heritage the role of the sciences like applied microbiology and biotechnology in the conservation of stone artwork is being acknowledged. Amongst t he various techniques that are mentioned by the author the most powerful, eco- friendly biological techniques are effective in terms of identification of the biodeteriorating agents. Before application of these techniques its very much important that we identify the specific reason of the deterioration, whether it is due to chemical pollution or action of biological agents. In case of biological deterioration, the identification of organisms is must before application of any technique. Biotechnological approaches to counter the effect of both biological and non-biological degradation agents are starting to pile up. Amongst the all techniques discussed above I think the application of microorganisms in the restoration of the artwork is the best one. It is eco, health friendly, require less input. Though there are some disadvantages of the method being not so efficient, but still in future there can be much more to be done with the same. Microbial world is quite resourceful and thus it has a long road ahead. Application of Biology off course not accomplish this task solely, and it requires the application of physical , chemical sciences as well as engineering sciences, That what Biotechnology is all about, various such impossible things are made possible sue to application of Biotechnology. Bioremediation is one of the most important task or a problem that is being taken care of Bio

technology. It has to a go a long road in future as it also considers the Being Eco- Health Friendly part of the techniques it employs. In this report we saw the application of Biotechnology in the Conservation Of our Heritage by conserving the precious stony Monuments, in the same way Biotechnology has got wider application in almost all Bio remedial acts. Hope that all that has got deteriorated can be restored with application of this science.
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